Aluminum Co. of America

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 13, 1943

48 N.L.R.B. 1187 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Mattel' of ALuMII uln COMPANY OF AMERICA and UNITED STONE:
& ALLIED PRODUCTS WORKERS OF AIIERICA , C. I. O.
Case No. R--5026.-Decided April 13,1943
Jurisdiction : brick and tile manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of' Representatives : existence of question : re-
fusal to accord petitioner recognition ; election necessary
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production and maintenance em-
ployees at company's brick and tile manufacturing plant, exclusive of watch-
men, gatemen, guards, and all office, clerical, and supervisory employees ;
agreement as to
Mr. R.'R. Kramer and Mr. Berry C. Williams, of Knoxville, Tenn.,
for the Company.
Mr. TV. I. Smith and Mr. Robert Boyer, of Knoxville, Tenn., for the
United.
Mr. Fred A. Wetmore, of Maryville, Tenn., for the Aluminum
Workers.
Mr. William R. Cameron, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon amended petition duly filed by United Stone and Allied Prod-
ucts Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the United, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Aluminum Company of America, herein
called the Company, at its brick and tile plant at Alcoa, Tennessee, the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing-
upon due notice before Eugene M. Purver, Trial Examiner. Said hear-
ing was held at-Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 19, 1943. The Com-
pany, the United, and Aluminum Workers of America, C. I. O., Local
No. 9, herein called the Aluminum Workers, appeared, participated,
and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-.
examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues.
The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prej-
udicial error and are hereby affirmed. /
48 N. L. R. B., No. 141.
1187
521247-43-vol 48- 7 6
.1188 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD'
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Aluminum Company of America, a Pennsylvania corporation, is
engaged in the mining and refining of bauxite and in the smelting,
manufacturing, and fabricating of aluminum. At its Alcoa, Tennes-
see, plants, it is engaged in the manufacture of carbon electrodes, the
-smelting of aluminum, and the fabrication of sheet and plate alumi-
num. Approximately 90 percent of the raw material used at Alcoa
comes from points outside the State of Tennessee, and more than 90
percent of its Alcoa products is shipped to points outside the State.
The Company's brick and tile manufacturing plant at Alcoa, Tennes-
see, with which we are here solely concerned, is a department of the
Company's Alcoa Works. During 1942 more than 95 percent of the
output of this plant was used by the Company in construction and
maintenance at Alcoa, and less than 5 percent was sold to the general
-public. During that year approximately one-sixth, in value, of the
raw materials used in this plant was obtained from points outside the
State of Tennessee, and approximately $500 in value of products was
shipped to points outside the State. The brick' and tile plant employs
about 52 workers.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Stone and Allied Products Workers of America, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization
admitting to membership employees of the Company's brick and tile
department at Alcoa, Tennessee.
Aluminum Workers of America, Local No. 9, affiliated with the
Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor- organization which
-does not admit to membership employees of the Company's brick and
tile department at Alcoa, Tennessee.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about January 23, 1943, the United notified the Company that
it represented a majority of the employees of the brick and tile plant
at Alcoa and requested a bargaining conference. The, Company
declined to enter into any bargaining negotiations upon the ground
that the Aluminum Workers ,had been certified as the bargaining
agency for employees of the Alcoa Works, except the bricklayers and
certain other groups not here involved, and the Company was not in
1 Matter of Aluminum Company of America and Aluminum Emploilees Association at al.,
-15 N. L. R. B. 413.
:ALUMINUM :C'OMPANY` OF AMERICA 1189
any position to' negotiate with the United.2 As -stated below, the
Aluminum Workers has relinquished its claim to represent the em-
ployees here involved. `
The statement of the Field Examiner, introduced in evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the United represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate.,
We find that -a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV.' THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The evidence shows that there is no relation between brick and tile
making, which is the sole business of the plant with which we are
here concerned, and, aluminum production, which is the business of the
other plants of the Company at Alcoa, Tennessee, and, except for a
few processes involving a very few employees, there is no similarity
between them! There is no interchange of employees, within the unit
hereinafter found appropriate, between the brick and tile plant and
the other plants at Alcoa. '
The Aluminum Workers, heretofore certified as bargaining repre-
sentative for a unit consisting mainly of production and maintenance
employees at all the Company's plants at Alcoa, inclusive of the brick
and tile plant, no longer desires to represent the employees of this
plant, and does not desire to have its name on the ballot in event an
election is ordered in a unit consisting of these employees. The evi-
dence shows that, although at one time the Aluminum Workers had
some members among employees of the brick and tile department at
Alcoa, it now has no members among brick and tile plant employees,
and does not admit them to membership.
We find, therefore, in accordance with the agreement and stipula-
tion of the parties, that the following constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees of the Company at its
brick and tile manufacturing plant in Alcoa, Tennessee, exclusive of
watchmen, gatemen, guards, and all office, clerical and supervisory
employees.
e Subsequent to 'the certification of the Aluminum Workers , the Board found that brick-
layers at the Alcoa works constituted an appropriate unit and certified a craft union as
their representative. See Matter of dlunninum Co. of America and Bricklayers Sub. Union
#t 10, Tenn, 42 N. L R. B. 772, 43 N. L. R. B. 1275.
S The Field Examiner reported that the United submitted 36 membership and authoriza-
tion cards , of which 32 appeared to bear the genuine original signatures of persons vbose
names appear on the Company ' s seniority list, dated December 31, 1942, containing the
names of 51 persons in the unit claimed appropriate.
1190 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
, V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which,
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of Direction of Election herein,,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Aluminum Com-
pany of America, at its Alcoa, Tennessee, brick and tile manufacturing
plant, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as"early as pos-
sible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direc-
tion, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for
the Tenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National
Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 10, of said
Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found ap-
propriate in Section IV, above, who' were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including
employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they
were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including em-
ployees in the armed forces of the United States who present them-
selves in person at the polls, but excluding any who have since quit
or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire
to be represented by United Stone and Allied Products Workers of
America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for
the purposes of collective bargaining. `